how often do you rotate defensive ammo (and how to do do it)?

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cjpitt1985

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Ok, I carry a shield 9 sometimes, sometimes I carry a glock 19, sometimes a Tristar CZ clone that is close to the same weight/size as my g19.

Anyway, I used to carry around the same hollow points for months (if not years) in my pistol, not really thinking maybe cold weather or hot weather could mess them up. They were PDX1 Winchesters, they were all the rage when I bought them, heavily advertised. Well they were either bad from the factory, or bad because they got old and weather got to them.

Anyway, I live in the south, where it is humid, even the cold is humid (moist), and I carry more Hornady now than anything. Also like Speer Gold Dots but they are freaking hard to find in 9mm. I like the XTP 147gr and the Critical Duty 135gr in standard pressure (not a huge fan of +p, I have some buy don't typically care for the added recoil based on any performance testing I've seen). I did however, due to remington's huge rebate, I have a 250 free 147gr golden sabers for the sales tax . I have carried the 124 GSabers in the past, not a bad round, but I've noticed re-chambering rounds causes them to recess (or whatever you would call the round getting shorter due to pressure on the crimp). Not a big deal for basically free ammo though, just doesn't seem to happen with hornady. I don't make a habit of doing that much anymore anyway as I visit the range less than I used to and dry fire my guns a lot less.

But to get to the point, how often do you shoot out the rounds that you carry and replace them? What is recommended as far as that goes? Since that bad/old box of pdx1's I've been doing it at least every 3 months.

Thanks for any replies/opinions/recommendations. I know the 147 golden sabers aren't optimal in a 3" barrel because of jacket/core separation, but they are still better than FMJ and they were free. Right now my shield is actually loaded with "Warrior" 125gr JHP's than are very controllable and are $15/50 at my local gun shop and I've sent at least 100 of those through all of my 9mms and they haven't had a single problem yet.
 
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Usually once a year. Sometimes once every two years. Ammo should stay stable unless you have wild swings in temperature. Like going from sitting in the sun all day in the summer to the freezer.

I live in NE US. We have cold winter but also very hot and humid summers.

What exactly happened to the PDX that you're sure they went bad?
 
I typically shoot the mag that's in the gun when I go to the range. Move the spare into the gun, and carry new rds as a spare.

Probably overkill, but 8 rds won't break the bank, and it gives me peace of mind.

My revolvers keep the same carry ammo a lot longer.
 
Once a month on the semi-autos.

2-3 rounds at a time. re-fill mag, cycle mag to back of pile. Next mag in line goes into gun (fresh round in tube)
 
Rotating your defensive ammo is mostly about making yourself feel more confident and has little to do with need. If you shoot your old ammo after a year or two and it works like normal it most likely would remain reliable for a longer period of time.

I change it when the copper jacket or case begins to look dark and tarnished. Generally a year or two from when it was loaded in the gun. Take it to the range and shoot it. Haven't had any of the ammo fail yet but it makes me feel more confident to have fresh rounds every so often.
 
Arik said:
Usually once a year. Sometimes once every two years. Ammo should stay stable unless you have wild swings in temperature. Like going from sitting in the sun all day in the summer to the freezer.

I live in NE US. We have cold winter but also very hot and humid summers.

What exactly happened to the PDX that you're sure they went bad?
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well I bought a box of 20, shot 4 out, then carried them for a couple of years in a cz p07. I got rid of the p07, started getting jams when I test fired out my my shield, then tried it in my glock, beretta, cz. Having failure to extract problems, like one round just simply didn't cycle at all in my m9, it just burnt up.

I figure the temp change caused it, if it jams clean and almost new g19 up, it is bad ammo, period. That thing eats anything from tula steel to bill wilson signature stuff. For that matter, my cz clone and m9 do to after a ton of rounds at the range.

Anyway, I figure after the winter is over, I'll shoot the rest of my hornady critical duties out of my glock, the mag of warriors out of my shield, and the +p golden sabers out of my cz clone (those are the 3 pistols I carry around). Since I got a 250 free golden sabers, I'll likely rotate every 2 months or so, after I make sure they feed a full mag out of all of my 9mm's. I guess that could be "too" precautionary, but honestly the humidity down here is so bad that why chance it with free ammo that at that rate will take me at least a year to go through. I like to shoot what I carry anyway, in a world where hollow points aren't $.75-1.50 apiece that would be all I shot at the range. Those warriors, if you can find them, $15/50 is LEGIT, I have no data on the expansion, but they advertise 1075 fps at 125gr, and they don't buck the shield (or any pistol) as much as any other defense ammo I've shot and I've shot about all of them, and that is pretty good performance for a 125gr round. So buy them up if you see them, I pay twice as much for 147gr hornady XTP's and don't mind doing that either, another load that is consistent and doesn't kick much.
 
I just kinda look at mine every so often and say to myself that I probably ought to shoot that stuff up. Then I'll make a trip to the range with three or four revolvers, shoot the rounds in the cylinder and then some target rounds to finish out the day. Some of my defensive pistols come with multiple loaded magazines, so it's way too expensive to shoot it up every three to six months or even every year. Those I just shoot a magazine, rotate the others, and try to keep track as I can.
 
IN my LE Department, ammo was rotated and used quarterly. The ammo you carried was use in qualification and practice and new ammo was issued quarterly. You should decide for yourself what is reasonable and shoot up the old carrying ammo and issue yourself brand new ammo. In my personal case since retiring, I shoot my carrying ammo twice a year and replace it with new ammo. I have to shoot for qualification on my HR218 permit once per year and then 6 months later I do it again. I think twice per years is adequate.
 
I cycle what has been in the gun through at the the range once a year. Loaded mags that have been stored separately roll up in the rotation.

I'm just recently shooting ammo I bought on 9-11. Just wanted to see if it ran ok (it did).

In training in the 60's we were shooting ammo from 1943/44. Unless it looks to be degraded, I'm not too concerned. However, I always shoot a mag or two of any new type of JHP to be sure my pistols tolerate it, and be sure I don't buy a case of something I can't use.
 
before deciding to carry any round I shoot 2-3 boxes or more to insure my 40c will cycle it with out any failures .. and so far my 40c hasn't had any failures in over 800 rounds now .. eats anything I have fed it .. then around once per year I shoot what is in my mags .. the one in the gun and the 2 15 round magazines I carry on my week side ..

But ammo is good for many years as others have testified by shooting ammo 20 years old ..
 
I forgot to add that you don't need to shoot the exact same ammo for practice. Unless you're shooting for bullseye you won't notice much difference in practical accuracy between most ammo of the same weight. And recoil difference isn't enough for me to notice. That being said my smallest carry gun is a G19. There maybe a difference in sub compacts
 
When I'm carrying the 3" 66 ......... every time it comes out of the ready safe....... I open the cylinder ..... give it a good spin ("rotation" settles the powder) .... and close it back up..... I try to avoid closing with just a "flip of the wrist"..... but heck it's so coooooooooooool that it's hard to resist.......

oh ya...... if the cases start to get a green waxy stuff on them....... wipe/scrap it off.............

other than that...... keep using that stuff that your granddad brought back from WWII...... as long as it's kept cool and dry!
 
Arik said:
I forgot to add that you don't need to shoot the exact same ammo for practice. Unless you're shooting for bullseye you won't notice much difference in practical accuracy between most ammo of the same weight. And recoil difference isn't enough for me to notice. That being said my smallest carry gun is a G19. There maybe a difference in sub compacts
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definitely a difference in recoil in 9mm mouse guns like the shield vs something like a g19. A gen 4 g19 eats up recoil for its size and weight though, why I carry it a lot, but I still don't carry the hottest stuff I can find, rather stuff that is a balance of controllable/effective in testing.

and while I pay .50c a round for hornady custom 147gr xtp, finding gold dots for .50c is hard now around my area. I can find them online for that cheap if I buy like 500 of them, but people don't seem to ever have the 50 boxes of gold dots in 9mm anymore. Great carry load, just not any better or worse than Hornady probably. I used to carry nothing but Gold Dots when I carried .40 and .45 because of the reasonable price and great reviews.

and I'm not talking about ammo that is kept cool and dry, I'm talking about ammo that is carried with me, or in my car, in humid heat and wet cold depending on the time of the year. I know the stuff in my closet is fine for years, but the stuff that goes with me might not be.
 
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I mainly buy online but there are a few stores that occasionally carry it. Usually $22 - $25 per 50 rounds.

I carry the 124gr +p. Not the hottest stuff
 
I try to shoot off my carry ammo every year or two, but I've definitely gone longer (5 years+) and they all went boom without issue. This is ammo that is exposed to the elements daily with plenty of humidity in the warmer months.

I mainly use Speer GD's and Federal HST's, which IMO offer some of the best quality in ammo along with top-notch HP designs (and at some of the best prices online, like $.50-$.60/round). I have heard that Winchester had some quality control issues with it's ammo a few years back, which could account for the OP's problems.
 
I try to shoot up all of the ammo I have been carrying at least 2 times a year. That is if I don't practice which I do a lot more often than that. I usually have 3 mags loaded for my 45 and 2 speed loaders for my revolvers plus the loaded cylinder. These get shot quite often, guns cleaned and reloaded with fresh stuff. Probably don't matter much but that's the way I do it.
Peace,
Gordon
 
I shoot my agency duty ammo once a year during quals. I tend to rotate the top rounds in the mag around every few weeks to make sure the same 3 rounds aren't suffering from some bullet set back from constantly being chambered.
 
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